The Problems of Expropriation Practice in the Republic of Armenia

Expropriation, or in other words-compulsory purchase of private property for state or public needs are rather new social phenomena in Armenia. Though a diversity of forms of ownership to immovable property has been introduced in the Armenian social life since 1991, the first cases of expropriation took place in Armenia in 2000-2001, when a big development project aimed to renovation of city center of Yerevan, called Northern Avenue was launched by the Armenian government. It is not necessary to conduct a deep analysis to understand what a big social resonance the expropriation processes have in the modern Armenian society. In order to reveal a vital social interest in the expropriation processes one can just see the periodical demonstrations of owners of property subjected to expropriation. The purpose of this paper is to examine the whole expropriation process in Armenia with the special attention to the valuation and compensation issues. The present article concerns the expropriation institution, operation spheres of that institution and application conditions. It is mentioned that at the base of each legal norm is the notion of public interest because the law is formed in the public for making the lives of people as comfortable and as civil as possible. The main idea of this paper is to try to answer on question how the legal base works in case of expropriation practice and what kind of problems are there (especially in regards of valuation and fair compensation) when the expropriation procedure is implemented when private property is taken for public needs. In the article the issues of social concussions arising as a result of expropriation operation and the challenge of avoiding them are also discussed. The short history and the past of expropriation in Armenia are also presented.